SLOW but good week!- December 18, 2013

So we had a pretty solid week. We started with wednesday, where after emailing you guys we had an AMAZING AMAZING LESSON with a haitian named Michel, which was really just a spiritual experience. The spirit was super strong, we set a baptismal date, I just hope we can continue to find him, thats a big problem here. People just arent there when we are passing by.

Thursday we went to santo domingo only to return because Elder Villanueva only had to sign one paper for his passport. 

But saturday we had Yancarlos and Lucia´s baptism!!!!! IT WAS SO GOOD! Their dad, Gregorio, baptized them and he was so happy. They seriously are one of my favorite families to visit, I cant explain it but less than 4 months here have given me a real for these people in Villa Gonzalez. I guess that is waht happens when you try and serve as the Lord would serve. The Lord is all about love, and when we try and develop attributes like him, we become all about love as well. 

Sunday I was able to confirm Yancarlos! That was a really great experience. I know it wasnt me but the Spirit speaking through me, but I know that he, Yancarlos, has real potential to make a difference in the world. He is such a great kid and I am so happy I had the opportunity to help him come closer to Christ. Chelo came to church and he has everything going good. 

Yesterday we had a Zone Conference which was AWESOME. It was all about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and it just reminded me of the experiences I had in which the Atonement  carried me through the toughest of times. I cant explain the happiness I feel all the time here as a missionary, even when I get a little frustrated it is only because I know I can do better and I want to help these people more.

I got a lot of mail, thanks for all of that. I am hoping to write back but as the Missionary Manual says, we can only write letters on Pday so I probably wont get back to a lot of you for a little while. But the Stones´ package arrived and I loved it as well. With the calendar and Grandpas quotes. THAT WAS THE BEST GROUP OF QUOTES I HAVE EVER READ I am really proud to be his grandson. He is such a strong believer in these things. 

Thanks for everything! I hope to have an email with a google plus account when I am on the computer next week, we are going to call at 4pm here so 12 pm there. Yeah day light savings is not a dominican thing to do. 

I am stoked to talk to you all next week! I hope you have a wonderful time with Dane also! 

Love, 

Dallin

1. We walked to a waterfall today as a zone, this is Elder Kueser from South Jordan Utah. No, he doesnt know the Mcarthurs

2. YANCARLOS AND LUCIA Theyre so cute and funny

I'm in the DR- December 11, 2013

I think daily WOW I AM IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC it is just a crazy thing. But I love it.

First, My journal is like 3-4s of the way done, just letting you know.

One thing awesome that is going on is that Nene, our ward mission leader, and Miguel, the branch executive secretary  are both beginning their papers to go on a mission!!! It is really exciting because they really need the mission and the missionary force really needs them. I can really testify of the importance of missions and how much we can be helped more than anything, because we only begin the journey for a few people but our eternal state is changed by these 2 years serving the Lord. 

Jeancarlos and Lucia are hopefully going to be baptized this weekend. We think that they are ready for the baptismal interview, but we will see. At times they are a little embarrassed, but I love those kids and I am trusting that the Lord will make up for the things that Elder Cannon, Villanueva and I have lacked in our lessons with them. Chelo is thinking a little bit about his baptism, not that he doesnt want to, but he has the fear that he is going to enter in then some day give it up. We tell him that really he cannot know if he will give it up in 2 years, but he has to say every day that he will try and continue forward until the end of his life. He has taught us a lot. But I explained this to a friend Elder Gifford in the zone, and he said that one thing that he learned from a other guy in construction is that when you are walking on those high rise iron bars, ¨Once you stop is when you begin to fall¨. Too true.

My shoes are getting destroyed by this mud and dirt road terrain, I need to look soon for a shoe repair man to help me out before they break too much.

On christmas, I was thinking that maybe we could just use google plus!  You guys just need to make me an account and make it so I have no connections through that to anyone else and then we can use it. Because we cannot talk on the phone on the conference call, people here dont have phones for international calls. and the church phone you guys would have to call back and I am not sure how that would work. I will let you know what time next week. Let me know the info next week!!

Love you all, I am almost at 5 months WOOAHHHH this is too fast. I am loving life here and I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store this next year of 2014.

Dallin

I GOT THE PACKAGE- December 4, 2013

I got the christmas package, it was just what I needed.. I LOVED IT! Especially the pictures. I am showing these pictures of dane and the fam to the people of Villa and they LOVE him. He is great.

So this week was alright. I was a little sick, with the cold. I am not sure how I got that, it was either because at night it is like 65 or 60 and now that is cold for me, or because everyone in the DR gets sick with this and here you need to shake hands with every person you talk to for more that 7 seconds. But theres nothing better than this! We are working hard, teaching a lot, and loving everything here. 

On Saturday and Sunday we had stake conference, and it was pretty great. and ALL 3 of our investigators with a baptismal date this month came! CHELO CAME he is such a great guy. We went from the chapel, and then rented a bus to take us about 30 minutes to santiago at the stake center. It was a party. it was packed haha but so fun. Chelo is really a prepared soul of the Lord, he has the desire and does the stuff. He has a date for the 28th. we may have to move Jean Carlos and Lucia to the 28th as well because they learn  slowly and we may have to give them some more lessons. That would make 5 baptisms that day (the hermanas have 2 on that day as well) and Villa Gonzalez would be very happy. 

Something funny and iffy was during a lesson with JC and Lucia. We went back over the Word of Wisdom, and they remembered!! But then Lucia, the 11 year old girl she is, said 'oh yeah! hah! I drink coffee!' WHAT so then we had to give them a talk and make sure that they stop drinking that coffee. Forever. Then they said 'ok!' so its all good. But elder villanueva wasnt too happy. But now its ok.

One thing I am excited for is LA NOCHE BUENA which is the 24th. Basically, they feast and feast on pork, chicken, moro, rice, chofaun, all the goods. I am going to gain so much weight. Then turn it into muscle. but really I love the food here so much I am so excited to show it to the world over irvine some day. 

Love you all! Thanks for everything, I think about you a lot but I dont miss you because that makes a missionary TRUNKY and thats not in my vocabulary.

Dallin

1 and 2 the view from LA PIEDRA

 

3 this is at the zoo today HAAH

 

What a wonderful life- November 27, 2013

Happy Birthday Tommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAH!!! GO CRAZY! Invite Jabari Parker over for dinner or something. You can because its your birthday! And happy thanksgiving everyone! I am thankful for Villa Gonzalez and everything it offers to me. I LOVE IT HERE it is literally heaven on earth. I have never grown to love so many people in such a short amount of time.

This week was really different, not being with Elder Cannon. But we worked SO hard. We just worked and worked and worked and worked, I am so happy. We leave the house at 10, come back at 12 until 230, then go back out until 930. I walk fast, which is a little hard sometimes for my comp since he is short but we do it and we rock it. I was told that with Elder Villanueva I need to work hard, and Mom you would be proud. Also, I read in Mosiah 2 22-

22 And behold, all that he ^arequires of you is to ^bkeep his commandments; and he has^cpromised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth ^dvary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do ^ekeep his^fcommandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

And I am using that a lot with my lessons. ALL HE WANTS OF US IS KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS! I love it. and that is what I am trying to do. I was in a lesson with our branch mission leader (his family is less active. His mom went to the temple and everything, but things happen and now we are working with them and also trying to get our mission leader to serve a mission) and I pulled out the Missonary Manual, and said -this is what the lord gives to us missionaries to become the best missionaries we can become. Only through this can we really realize our true potential as missionaries of the church if we keep the rules to the letter.- then I picked up the scriptures and said -this is what the lord gives us as his children so that we can realize our potential as children of God. only through keeping the commandments to the letter can we do it- AND ITS TOO TRUE! THE GOSPEL IS TRUE man I am pumped, commandments are too awesome. He wants to bless us. All we have to do is keep the commandments. 

Also, we taught our English class this week and it was great, we had about 15 people and 12 were hatian men. First we had them practice singing their ABCs and that was pretty great to hear all these guys doing it. Then we had them stand up and guess what we did! HEAD SHOULDERS KNEES AND TOES. Man it was too funny. I was cracking up. Somebody should have taken a video of that golden moment of life. 

We have 3 people on date this transfer to be baptized, the children of Gregorio and Chelo, a guy from the english class. Chelo is one of those things you call a GOLDEN INVESTIGATOR. It really shows the Lords hand in the work when you find such prepared people to recieve His gospel. He reads the Book of Mormon, is praying and told us that he REALLY would like to get baptized, he just wants to keep learning more. Elder Cannon was a little sad when he had to leave from teaching him, but Elder Villanueva and I are working hard to keep him going. When someone really is willing to read, pray and go to church to find their answer, you know the Lord will guide them. 

But yeah, it was a pretty regular week. The best week we have had so far, just like every preceding week. The mission only gets better and better, day by day and I am so thankful to the Lord that I have this chance to have a taste of His work and His glory. 

Oh yeah Andrew came up to Santiago, and President gave permission to come see me! We had lunch then saw the monument. He is pretty great, especially his spanish. He loved everything, and I was so glad to see him.

Love you all, eat lots, and See you soon.

Dallin

1. Andrew and I in front of the monument

2. Elder Villanueva ON the monument!

The life- November 20, 2013

The Zone conference was really good! President Douglas has a way to speak so quietly and smoothly without raising his voice that makes you realize his authority and how he knows what he is talking about. MAN he is a great guy. ALL that was talked about during the zone conference was obedience, obedience, obedience. And priorities of whats more important, Christ or your family, your girlfriend, a personal cell phone, video games, sports, or anything. It went down hard, everyone (i hope) came out loving it and learning how to rededicate ourselves to the work.

My new companion is named Elder Villanueva! It was sad to see Elder Cannon go... he is a great elder and I learned a lot from him. But thats the mission, and I am excited for change. He is from Tiajuana Mexico, but knows a lot of English. I kind of wanted to have someone who knew no english... I need to work a lot on my spanish. I feel confident speaking, but I was hoping to HAVE IT DOWN asap but President knows whats best, I am excited. 

Nene and Miguel, from the branch, are both thinking about starting their mission papers to go out! THAT WOULD BE SO COOL! That is the last conversation we had with them before Elder Cannon left, they are really good guys and theyll be good missionaries. They are the ones that go out with us the most in the branch, and I feel like puting elders in the area really helped get these guys excited to go out and serve. 

Yesterday also we said goodbye to Basilio... That was really sad. He really loves Elder Cannon and I, and we gave him a blessing before we left and took pictures, but after all that and we were about to leave, he began to cry. He is probably the most pure hearted soul I have ever met in my life. He is about 30 years old, and with this illness he has, he is so suprisingly positive and happy and just tries to do what is right all the time. He lives about a 20 minute walk from the church and still walks and does all he can to follow christ. 

Oh yeah, Diego, a baseball player in the branch, is getting looked at by a few colleges in the USA, can you give me the contact info of the BYU sports or Baseball team? that would be awesome. He is like 22 and throws 93ish. 

Oh yeah, can somebody send me the pic of the cover photo of my facebook event of my farewell? We have a really poor area that looks so familiar... It may be the same picture. we will see!

I am realizing now how important it is just to work, work, work and be as obedient as possible. That is what is most important. Life is hard as a missionary, but the best life I could ever ask for. 

I hope all is well out there in the VINE, it is nice and cool here during the night, I am actually getting a little bit dry on my hands and my face. The winter here rocks. 

I am excited to hear from you all on Christmas! But one thing is that I am not sure what we will do... Since it is skyping. uhh but yeah or it is calling. We will let you know as we get closer! 

Love you all! 

Bethany and cole and everyone else... YOUD BETTER BE READING YOUR SCRIPTURES DAILY it makes all the difference.

Dallin

 

 

 Basilio

 

 Gigantic Dominican moth.

 

Dominican Republic- November 13, 2013

So this week has been really exciting. First, thursday we had a GREAT activity with about 60 people at the church building playing games like musical chairs and human knot, and the people just loved it. We got some good less active members there, so that was too great. Everyone looked like they enjoyed themselves. That day, we visited with a less active man, Frank. He is pretty amazing, he is on the SWAT. But we challenged him to read the Book Of Mormon, cover to cover, before he got back on work (since he really messed up his wrist or hand) and he is doing it. YEAH

Then Saturday we had a baptism! The sisters have been teaching Fatima for a long time. She is the daughter of a man in the ward, and Nene, the ward mission leader, baptized her. It was a cool experience for him since he became a priest the sunday before, so he was nervous and freaking out the whole time. But I assured him he would do great. When he was doing it, Elder Kunzler and I were the witnesses. (Elder Cannnon went to the baptism of the lady who got married a few weeks ago that he taught in his previous area) and I really felt the spirit. You could feel and see the room fill with the Spirit of the Lord and it burned in us. It was a really cool experience. 

Oh yeah the office elder, Elder Astacio, brought Elder Cannon back along with those really big bottles and we filled up about 15 with water from the church to wash clothes and to bathe. Then we got water the next day. Its all in a tank underneath the house, and the pump to carry it to the top of the house into another tank is broken, so we are stilll using the water in the bottles. We had clean water, we just drink bottled water in the big bottles, but yeah we were just lacking water to do all other things. 

I heard there was a meteor up there! That is pretty crazy.

It was my half birthday, thanks for remembering. 

BETHANY KEEP DOING WORK SISTER! And yeah that was sad to hear about Boys and Girls Club Basketball. Dad, Brent and I worked hard to keep it afloat, but theres not much you can do sometimes. Some things are just meant to fall. THAT MEANS COLE CAN NOW PLAY VOLLEYBALL!! YEAHHH!!

And then yesterday we saw one of our english class students, and we shared a lesson with him. He was pretty dang interested, I am excited. He is really smart, hatian, and speaks like 3.5 languages. He is really excited to read the book of mormon. His name is Chelo, lets hope he keeps it up.

Thanks for everything, and thats awesome to hear about Ben Jafek!! When does he report!? I want to email him when he is in.

Love 

Dallin

Ward activity.

Fried yucca and mac and cheese

Christmas tree in the DR

The Spirit is strong in VILLA- November 6, 2013

I know I emailed you saying I wouldnt be able to but I have like 5 minutes to finish this. THE THINGS I DO FOR YOU PEOPLE.

So the computer is SUPER slow so I am not sure how much it will let me write. But anyways, we recieved notice that it is possible that we may not recieve water at our house, or the whole city of Villa Gonzalez, for a MONTH. WOW that would be pretty awful, but we will see. I luckily washed my shirts and pants and socks recently... but I am going to have to find a way to wash and also repeat some clothes. (mother's editorial note:  Ewww!  Stinky boys in the 90 degree weather.  Showers?  Washing clothes???)

MOM SEND THAT PICTURE OF US WALKING ON THE DIRT ROAD  INTO THE ENSIGN! I am not sure what they would do with it but maybe they will make a little mormon ad that says "Work: Taking you to far places" or something REALLY deep like that. I should write those things because I am really profound. 

We had people at church! YES!! We had Gregorio and his 2 kids who are preparing for baptism, Basilio, Fellito, then a friend of Nene/new investigator Chino (like 21), and 2 investigators that are brother and sister, Angel (14) and Elizabeth (22), who Miguel and I went to pick up walking 30 minutes to go get them to walk back like 20 minutes. Sadly, Angel and Elizabeth heard someone mocking one of the testimonies and they were a little saddened by that, but in the lesson we explained to them that its hard to control others and they shouldnt say things sometimes but that shouldnt discourage us. When they told us those things, we were thinking "shoot" but we were on top of it. The spirit really helped us a lot. They liked the singing and the other testimonies though, I taught Angel how to read the music and a young guy Andy taught elizabeth.

Gregorio is the man. We left for an hour on Friday to go visit some a less active then we heard some whistling and yelling behind us. Thinking it was a usual drunk, we didnt pay attention to it. But he yelled "Hermanos!"  and it was Gregorio! He was the first person baptized in all of Villa Gonzalez. He was out of the church for a little while then he prayed for guidance. We showed up the next day and now he is as excited as ever. The Branch President wants to give him a calling and everything! 

Love you all, thats all the time I have for today. The Spirit really does guide his servants when they are living worthily. Missionaries and everyone else. Love you all once again

Dallin

Dominican Republic- October 30, 2013

This week was a pretty fun one. We had 18 people this time in English Class! It is so fun. We see the students around every once in a while and say hi and try and have a little conversation in English. It is so fun. Theres this one neighborhood that people say is really sketchy, especially at night. It may be because people here are a little racist and this neighborhood is basically all hatians, but I can see a little bit that it may be dangerous. BUT we have students in there! So we dont have to worry ahahha.

Mom, I have been taking your advice on the fruit thing. On thursday, friday, and saturday we had Batidas (those things with fruit, milk, SUGAR and ice) and we had a papaya batida, then the next day we got a Guanabana from our good friend Ezequiel, then we had a mango one. Man this place ROCKS. Then we went on a hike today to the hills behind our house. We walked for so far and found some fruit trees! We went with a friend of ours, Miguel, who is a 19 year old kid thinking about going on a mission. He talks so fast and I cannot understand him a lot of the time but hes a great guy and we had a good time. And I brought water. Dont worry mama

On sunday we had a good showing at church! We had Gregorio (less active) and his 2 kids who are progressing towards baptism, then also Basilio, the man, and then 2 sisters who are less active we have worked with and their kids! The sisters were such a suprise! We didnt even think we reminded them about church, but they just walked in and I was so happy! Its kind of hard that more people that say they will go dont, but the little blessings are what keeps me going. I was so happy when all of them walked in,  that was a good day. 

Monday Night we were planning for the next day when the sister missionaries from the branch called. Hermana Manarang said that they have been teaching a 9 year old boy, Oscar, and they asked him who he wanted to baptize him. He said me!!I was so honored and humbled by the fact that a little boy first knows who I am and trusts me to do such a thing. I was pretty happy with that. 

What else happened... there wasnt much. OH YEAH there are a few families that we have been working so hard with, or that are active in the branch, that want to get split up for various reasons. That was so hard to sit there and listen to them accuse and yell and one of them I stopped and told them that they are under convenant with the Lord and if they want to fix things they know where to go. I showed 3 Nephi 19 27 (or wherever it is on contention) and how it is of the devil. We are going to work, but man that was hard to see. Just when we feel like we are figuring things out, BAM life gives us another run for your money. We just are going to keep working. 

 

Love you all

Dallin

p.s. AUSTIN HAPPY BIRTHDAY I HOPE YOU LOVE IT I think that I love you most because of your example to me and the fact that I can always look to you for the path I should follow. Cole is lucky to have you as an older brother, and I am trying to become an example to him as you are right now. Thanks brah for everything

 

1st pic Nene the branch mission leader and his nephew Isaias, the cutest little baby. 

2. That was on the hike today

3. TOBACCO

4. Miguel and I on the hike

On the Weekly- October 23, 2013

So the weather heated back up. I dont think it is that hot, it is just pretty hot and I sweat but its not unbearable, but I laugh because all the Dominicans say that its SO HOT and they cant survive! haha I am sitting there and wondering how they can think that it is so hot. They forget what a month and a half ago felt like. IVE BEEN HERE FOR 2 MONTHS! Isnt that crazy? I love it. 

On Friday we continued digging a hole for someone's outhouse, but this time an investigator of ours who does the digging for a living came to help us. We basically doubled the depth which was just great. He is just a man of a man, he is a very strong. And a really cool guy!

So we started an english class, and the first two weeks we had 2 people each week. On Saturday we had one last lesson set up with Rafaelito, who lives way up a big hill like a mile up then we got there and guess who was there! NOT HIM so then we had to go down and walk about a half hour to the chapel and we walked in and the sister missionaries said ¨theres a lot of people upstairs¨ and I wasnt too sure what to think of a lot of people because a lot of people at things here is like 7 or 8. We walk in and there was 17! Our main man Fellito broght 5 haitian brothers with him and then there were a couple people from the branch then a few more who I had no idea who they were. It was so funny. During the lesson, I was sitting next to Fellito and Nene, our branch mission leader. Nene could not figure out how to say ¨speak¨but what saying ¨ehh speak¨ so fellito and I were trying to help him. He just couldnt get it! So Fellito placed his hand on the back of Nene´s head, and told him to just go "ssssssssssssssss" then was like ¨ahora peak!¨ and nene did it! It was so funny how excited they got. We gave fist bumps and congratulations all around to the 3 of us, these people are SO FUNNY. 

Basilio, a 30 year old less active came to church. That was all we had, but he is so great. He has elephantitis in his leg so it is huge, and it is hard to walk and he is embarrassed by it often. We met him on our first day here, and he is just a good friend. He always has good questions for us like ¨hey whats your favorite animal¨ and things like that. Someday a picture willl come with him because he is just a really great friend and we got a special connectoin. 

It is hard to say what else... not much else happened this week. But it is crazy to hear about the Northwood Girls Volleyball breaking news and I hope they know they got a thug waiting for them to come take over the world on JV named Béthany. I am glad Wes is home, he's a fighter and just keeps working hard. NOTHING LETS HIM DOWN. 

Life here is good. It is hard, we sweat a lot, and make a lot of rice, but man it is good. Today I had a thing called Yaroa, which is fries, meat, ketchup, mayonnese, and cheese. I had 2 big ones HAH! I am eating so much but maintaining my weight of 185. I just burn everything off. And mom, I don't eat the fruit because I actually have to wash it and stuff and that takes too long. We make smoothies kind of, like fruit, milk, sugar, a little bit of vanilla, and ice. that stuffs good. And we had a spagetti version the other day YUMMM spagetti batida. 

Love you all, talk to you soon. 

Dallin

Oh the weather- October 16, 2013

The weather has been so nice. Like Irvine all over again just a little more humidity. I dont even sweat that much right now, AHH I LOVE IT thank goodness. BUT yesterday it rained so hard that the roads overflowed so we got home wet to the bone. We were high up on a dirt road and we saw the rain coming so we started just running up the street yelling ¨saludos!!¨ which is how you get in houses. all of them were closed up! We began to accept our drenching doom when we saw a bunch of people sitting on a porch, so we got in then the rain started. But after sitting there and the rain hadnt let up at all, we had to leave. That was super crazy. The roads were a river and we were the driftwood. Haha life is fun here.

THIS is Elder Cannons last transfer... He is assigned to train me and then go home. WOO hes great. If you all are in pleasant grove the sunday before thanksgiving you can go to his homecoming but yeah thats basically it. 

On wednesday we went on some exchanges for just the afternoon since elder cannon and another missionary were going to go to the dinner at the mission home of all the missionaries going home, since they knew so many. Elder Drury, the one with the brother in Montreal, came over and that was fun. We taught 4 good lessons and it was fun being able to lead the lessons and teach, since he doesnt have as much experience speaking but it was still a lot of fun. 

We had 5 people at church! One was so unexpected, a mother of our new ward mission leader who had been inactive for who knows how long after being going through the temple and being a strong member for so Long. Shes so great. Her daughter, who Elder Drury and I taught wednesday, also came. I was kind of direct and bold with teaching her, but she came so I was very glad. Then Gregorio, a less active who was a great member missionary back in the day but wants to come back now, and his two kids who we have been teaching who want to be baptised. They learn a little slower but their great kids and we are going to work hard with them to get them to the point so their dad can baptize them.

One of our investigators told us last week he was going to give something up in his life, and we were thinking softball since he is on a team and it takes up a lot of time. Turns out... he was a cock fighter. Who knew? he is the most mildmannered guy and breeds and trains these killer aviaries. It is crazy! But he is going to sell his chickens then guess what? he will get enough money to get married then he can get baptized like he really wants!! Theres always a blessing. 

One thing I have realized is how important the Book of Mormon is in the conversion process. NO ONE can have a true testimony of our church being true unless they have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. And NO ONE can tell someone that their testimony of it is false until they try it themselves. I have been reading it in Spanish lately, I am almost done with 2nd Nephi and it is so good. I love it so much, I come closer to Christ every time I read it. I hope all at home, members or not, try it out because it really has changed my life and it can change anyone elses. ITS THE GREATEST.

Bethany I am glad you are going work in Volleyball.  thats my girl!

Cole, do you love sierra vista OR WHAT!?

I am so blessed to be out here, Villa Gonzalez is where its at. We walk all day but its so fun. The people are too great.

Love you all, have a great week. Stay safe!

Elder

1 This is the tobacco fields by my house, theyre so pretty!!! XD

 

2 We eat this much bread every 4 or 5 days. low carb diet

 

It's always sunny in VILLA GONZALEZ!- October 9, 2013

I´ve learned a few things on the mission so far... one of the biggest being that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are so good. My diet is literally just carbs 95 percent of the time, but peanut butter and jelly at 9:45 at night is one of the most relaxing parts of the day!

Also, mom, I got the book. THANKS it is so great. I look at the pictures and how good looking and fun family I come from, and I just give thanks over and over again. You all rock! Also, the picture of Chuck the Truck made me shed tears. Thanks

Yesterday we were walking, and we heard something that basically describes the spirit of Villa Gonzalez. We were walking down a street where no one was really out at 7:30 at night, and we hear a grown man proclaim in pure joy ¨llegó la luz!! WEEE HOOOOO!!!¨ which means ¨the light came!¨ I love it. We have light from 4 am to 10:30 am then it shuts off until 7:30ish then goes out again at 11:30. And those are approximates, its pretty iffy. But I love it!

General Conference was so great. First, D Todd Christofferson said he is from New Brunswick? did you know him dad? But that Sunday Morning session was just the greatest thing. I loved it! Elder Eyring, when he said that the way to be happy is keep the commandments, simple as that. That was so great. THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS IS NOW OVER! We found it! Then my namesake, Elder Oaks, knocked it out of the Park as well. He is great, basically telling us how it is. If Gods not the top priority.. we have it all wrong. Then President Monson´s final talk was so great. I was a little bit saddened but it was chevere to see him show emotion, being able to connect with how so many people feel. We had one less active come... it was a little disappointing but I wont let that get me down. We are doing all we can! We just need to simply do more. 

On Monday we met with a man, Pedro Pablo, an old Less active thats like 50 with bad drinking, smoking and other Word of wisdom problems. Elder Cannon was talking for a long time so i thought ¨what can I say that will get his attention¨ then the spirit reminded me of DyC 89:21, where it says that when we keep the Word of Wisdom the Destroying Angel will pass over us, or basically that we will live until our time is up.  So I told him that. I was pretty straight forward about it... but I told him we are here to help him because at the moment he doesnt have that promise. He is dealing with some dangerous things, and I told him that he might die from it. But I told him we are here to help him recieve the blessings of the Word of Wisdom. He calmed down and was a little bit more focused after that.

Also, we have been teaching 2 men, Ramon and Santo. Santo is Ramons father, and Ramon was in a bad motorcycle accident so he is all messed up. But they read and understand and love our message. We are hoping that once Ramon can walk, he will come to church and feel the spirit there. He sees the importance of it, reads all the pamphlets, and just is so humble because of this crash. Santo reads the Book of Mormon like no other, and just loves it. He actually remembers everything too and gives us a good synopsis every time! I love these guys. They are some of my favorite people to teach because I can just feel that they WANT to learn and WANT the blessings. They dont have to say it, theyre just so humble and desire more in life. 

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALYSE!! LOVE YOU!! You are seriously the coolest sister ever AHAH top 3. I love you because you brought my twin Dane into the world and you and I have similar facial structure and stuff. People alwasys say we look EXACTLY the same when they see our pics. Thats good for me! Love you sis, keep working hard and loving my nephew. and Tommy, tell him I say HELLO

Well thats all I have today, stay lovely

Elder Murphy

Always looking UP- October 2, 2013

Sorry about last week to those who emailed me, my computer was so slow that I could only write 2 emails in an hour... so lame! but its all good, as long as you know i am alive and I am LOVING IT here. The DR is the greatest thing.

On Friday, we dug a hole. we tried to dig a bathroom hole, i am not sure what it is called haha but it is what they dig underneath the outhouses. but that was the hardest thing, we were sweating our faces off. It was for a newly baptized member of the church, and we got about 2 feet down. it is supposed to go about 10! but we are going to go back and hopefully finish within the time that my mission is over. 

We are seeing all sort of miracles all around. First, we are teaching 2 kids of a less active, gregorio, and it is helping him get back into his good old groove like before. He loves the Gospel, and we are hoping that he can get ready to baptize his kids when the time comes that they are ready for that. also, we were in this really promising investigators house, Ingry, and her brother was there so we were thinking ¨we get to share a message¨ since she is never there with her brother or any men, but then he left... we were already sitting in the house, and she said to wait and she was going to try and find a neighbor or something, she went out and I prayed for her brother who lives with her to come, since we had shared with those two before. she came back and nothing had improved. but she asked us a question about a scripture in the Bible, then who walked in? JODEMI her brother. God answers prayers. Also, we were walking in the rain and then some guy yelled out ¨dont get wet!¨ in english, but we usually dont go when they say that. We went though, and who was visiting that house? another less active, sealed in the temple member. God still works today, showing his love through miracles and blessings every moment. 

Can you buy platanos in irvine? if so, I am stoked and I will make you some good good ones. I love them

We paintballed today, and I got destroyed in my finger. It looks like I got in a fight with some Tigres (Dominican Gangsters) and got the best of them. Which happens on the daily haha just kidding, but yeah it was super fun. Elder Cannons first trainee is one of the District leaders in the Zone, Elder Fabian, he is the man. Just a big buff Dominican elder. 

Oh yeah I missed Eric Banta´s birthday. Love you man, I hope it was a magical day. Keep working

Well, it was a pretty fun week but nothing too crazy. I guess we live in a sketchy neighborhood, but I think that it is calm and nice. I think that my appearance is just too similar to the hatians and dominicans that they think I am just a nice mormon. Just kidding, but these people rock. Except for coming to church, we had zero less actives and zero investigators there. BUT we are working and they have their ability to choose. 

Love you all, keep getting better Wes!!

Elder Murphy the Handsomer one

What a World- September 25, 2013

So today was a little bit sad. WE woke up to go play basketball and we played with an inactive 17 year old from the ward in the court outside the chapel. WE were playing and I was SOOO BAD and I have turned into a nonathletic slob. I could barely touch the rim and my shots were all over the place. Maybe it is the humidity because that was some awful times. But it was fun! And afterwards Elder Cannon and I saw a guy with a sledge hammer pounding a roof into dust so we went up to help him! He said they were going to redo the roof, so we got to go onto the top and fire away. It was pretty fun, but hot!

So last Friday we ended up going with Fellito to the office to find out about his ¨celula¨which is kind of like the social security number needed to do anything here, and they said it would be really almost impossible. BUT they said he only needs a passport to be married. WHICH IS AWESOME except for the fact that it costs 2000 pesos to get a passport, 10000 for a non-Dominican and a Dominican to get married, and then 500 for each of their three kids. So 13500 pesos for a Haitian without a set job? that will take years. but he seems excited and we are hoping he keeps working for it because a few years of working is worth the infinity with your family in the kingdom of God. Also, we went today with a friend of Elder Cannon from his previous area to see about them getting married. He is a return missionary and isn't married to this sister and has been inactive for a few years. BUT elder cannon taught his soon to be wife, and they are both in it to get sealed in the temple. They have a sad story though, they were in an accident with their house where they made it out but their house burned down... and their three kids didn't make it out. They were heart broken but it made them realize even more the importance of families. I can see the happiness they have, and Elder Cannon and I get to be there wen they are married In villa Gonzalez on Friday. WOOT WOOT.

ON Sunday we ran into some crazy guy, and that was a little frustrating. He first didn't let us start with a prayer,  but we decided to try and have a nice lesson on the plan of salvation. He immediately started pulling scriptures out of his bible and was arguing concepts that didn't even pertain to the lesson and the scriptures didn't pertain to the arguments. But I decided I would only ask him to read the BOOK of Mormon then testify of its truthfulness. As I began speaking, he started talking and I got mad and said ¨'hey puedo hablar!?!?¨and i realized there that there was no hope. SO we just parted ways nicely and went off to the rest of Villa Gonzalez where I enjoy talking to the people.

One cool thought that I had was this. When we were teaching a cousin  of a newly baptized member, we began talking about the fall of Adam. I realized this. If the fall hadn't happened, why would we need Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ´s atonement did two things... the first being made it possible for all men to be resurrected, and the other was that we could be forgiven of all of our sins if we repented. So if the fall didn't happen, we wouldn't have had death or sin in the world... so Jesus wouldn't have needed to come. But he was chosen from the beginning to come and do that, even before Adam and Eve, so the fall was a necessary piece of the plan of God. The perfect plan.

Sorry about the weird typing, this keyboard stinks. I love hearing from you all, I am working my self as hard as I can and I am loving every minute. I am hoping that everyone who is thinking about serving a mission decides to do so because this is the very best ever. I am just continually happy and working. Stick to the work til it sticks to you, for beginners are many and finishers few. Mom I just made that up isn't that pretty good?

But really, thanks for your prayers and help, Love you all


Dallin Murphy, Elder

Momma knows best- September 18, 2013

Pretty tame week, I must say. Basically, nothing happened. Why? Somebody got Dengue. That person felt really weak for a whole week, and he and his companion stayed in the hospital from thursday night to tuesday morning. It was nice for them to be in the air conditioning, but that was basically the only good part. For him, he had a fever, was weak, had a headache and his bowel movements were far from normal. For his companion, it was awful. Elder Cannon was the one with Dengue HAHA I was the companion. So I think that the Lord is telling me something...  GO AND USE BUGSPRAY. So from now on  I am going to use it 2 to 3 times a day. And then Mom, you cant get mad because then I will have done all that I can. But I got plenty of reading done in my Book of Mormon. I was in 1 Nephi 4 and then got to 2 Nephi 4! 2nd Nephi Chapter 4 is too great, I love the emotion Nephi uses. He gets so frustrated with the little things, he is trying to be the best he can be but there are so many things that come up and hold him back, basically being the instincts of the Natural man instead of someone being a follower of Christ. I have a lot of those sort of feelings a lot. It is frustrating but what more can we do than try to be better day by day.

That is so hard to hear about Ryan Conley. I did not know him too well, but anyone that is worthy to be a part of that Gates family is probably 10 times the person that I am. I send my humble condolences to them and hope that they do alright, but I know that they are so firm in the faith and know that they know what there is besides this life. 

Also, I am now praying for Wes. He is such a warrior. I think about him all the time when I am out here, because he was so amazing  with the Nicaraguan people. I want to be as awesome as he is and friends with these people as he was with those people when he lived there for about a year. 

CHARLIE MY MAN You´re in the MTC!!! AHH thats crazy. Seeing that I am now a seasoned veteran, I invite you to email me with any questions. haha just kidding, but I am sure he did so good with his talk and his eagle court of honor. Good to see all the friends back together for one last time without their stout cornerstone who is here only looking at some nice pictures of the good looking people back from Irvine. 

So we have a branch. Our branch consists of More or less 600 members with 35 to 40 coming to church weekly, so that is a lot of fun. we work a lot with less actives, but we are trying our best to do all we can to be positive and love them. Which we are. 

We teach 3 to 6 lessons a day, so that probably evens out to 20 to 25 a week. It is just so spaced out, we could probably get more in but it takes like 30 minutes to walk to the closest investigator. 

In Santiago there are these things called Ruta´s, which are little taxis that just go on a route in the city, They pack in people, in their little corrollas, so there is a max of 7 and they just go and honk and stuff and they drive crazy. They dont really have traffic laws except stay on the road and stop at red lights. When we need to get to Santiago we take a bus, and those also they PACK so it is a lot of great fun in public transportation. But we walk around Villa Gonzalez. 

We eat every sunday at a member´s house, and it is a bunch of rice mixed with beans called MORO it is sooooo gooooooooodddd I LOVE IT I eat so much!. They also eat fruit, they eat a lot of basically chicken. They also love spagetti! This is the best food I have ever had besides mom´s food, but I love it. Like I probable 2 full mounds filling the plates full at home when we make it and when we go to a house. I love it. 

Anyways, not much else.  I love you all and trust that you are still the same, wonderful friends and family I have always had. 

Stay lovely,

Dallin

Sweaty Rain- September 11, 2013

So I got my first wonderful taste of Dominican rain. On thursday, friday, saturday and sunday, it POUNDED rain down on us! It is pretty fun. I thought it was raining hard, and that was just the beginning because I am just used to good old Irvine rain. It just never stops once it starts here, but it gets so hot that it is a nice thing. Also, it has been mostly raining in the afternoon and night time, so it cools down since there is absolutely no Air Conditioning here. But rain will not slow us down, we keep working and walking and walking. 

We walk a lot. the other day we walked to an area for a straight hour, and then taught 2 families, then walked an hour back. It takes 15 minutes at a minimum to walk anywhere, like the closest places we go, from our apartment, but no complaints. it just takes a long time. When I am walking I always get really wet. Either it is HOT and HUMID and I sweat up a storm, or it is nice and cool, with rain pounding down, or both. My shoes are getting a little gray, but I am learning to shine my shoes so that is a good thing. 

I stopped reading my scriptures in spanish. I was going to finish my reading of the Book of Mormon in English, but it was just taking way too long. Also, it is sad when I open up my scriptures and see a blank set of scriputres since I have no annotated my Spanish ones really at all. But I am going to get there. 

On sunday, we didnt have any investigators to church... but 4 less active members came! It was awesome to see all of them there. One was Fellito, my man, then there was a guy named Gregorio and his son, and Aries, a lady we have worked with a decent amount in our time here. Fellito is working to get his citezinship number (I cant spell anymore haha) because he seems to want to get married. We are going to go with him and work with the place here in Villa Gonzalez that can help him with that. Gregorio is a man with great faith, but has been going to a church that skewed a few of his perceptions of Doctrine in the scriptures. But, we are working with him a lot on the importance of ordinances and authority ALONG with faith and the spirit. Aries has a daughter on a mission, and has a daughter who is really active. But she came and seemed to really enjoy herself. 

We taught a good amount to less actives, and it seemed to always go back to the importance of the Sacrement. The importance of always keeping/renewing the covenants of baptism every week at church. We have the opportunity to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost with us always, but we have to be worthy and show we are willing to submit to God's will in the way we live our lives. 

This place is wonderful. I am loving the people, the food, the fruit, and everything else. The people have a culture of drinking lots, and it seems that every single drunk guy speaks english. We were teaching a family, and the dad was very intoxicated and was talking and stuff the whole lesson. but it turned out well. He cussed me out in English though! Pretty impressive.

We are continually working as hard as we can to invite others to come unto Christ day by day, minute by minute. 

Charlie, have fun in the MTC. Email me! But yeah I hope you've been prepping and focusing on this because it is exhausting and so humbling. I feel like I know nothing and am nothing, but God makes up the difference when we are trying to work the best we can. 

Dane, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you my man. Don't get too yolked while i'm gone. 

With love,

Elder Murphy

Villa Gonzalez- September 4, 2013

I´m in Villa Gonzalez, for those who were wondering what area I was in. It is great here! It is big and we walk everywhere, except when we need to go to Santiago. I went to the hospital already, but thats just because the doctor for the missionaries is there and I got bit by something on my hand and it swelled up a little bit. I AM USING BUGSPRAY MOM but these are no regular bugs, Dominican dwellers do not stop for Off!, they only stop when they decide to.

I have been seeing some fun things here that the Dominicans like to do. 1. They have their priorities all crazy. The most important things are their speaker systems, their mopeds or motorcycles, and their alcohol. Yesterday we were teaching a wonderful couple that want to get married. He said that he didnt have enough money, and I believed it when I saw the living conditions they were in. He is from Haiti and she is from here, and their little community is a hatian community where more little kids have no clothes than clothes. But then later we were walking and we saw him, driving the cleanest, slickest motorcycle I could think of. GO GET MARRIED FELLITO! But theyre awesome people. Their music plays louder than Bishop Bollard's band does, and they have no money. 2. When you say hi, they say bye. Like I walk by, say ´salugos´ which means greetings, and they say ´bye´ but its not even impolite its just normal. 3. They do everything on the front porch, no matter how loud it is. 4. They drink from 12:30-3 then at night. they love their alcohol but theyre still the friendliest people I have ever met. 5. They speak such lazy spanish and mumble, so I dont know how well i will be able to speak with the slick speaking friends back home, i´ll be cutting off syllables and not using my S´s.

It is really hot here. The nights are ok, when the power stays all night, but the daytime is really hot. I sweat, I drink water, I sweat some more. Dinners here consist of carbs carbs carbs. we have cream of wheat, rice, spagetti or top ramen. And eggs. but I love the food, we had a legit meal at a member´s house on sunday and it was Rice mixed with beans, beef, YUCA (some sort of root) and potato salad. They dished me the rice and it was a MOUND on my plate. but I ate it then got another serving. I am eating more than ever here, but we are able to do that and it tastes great. 

My spanish is coming along. I can speak pretty well, but it is hard to understand them. But it is coming along. 

2 lessons stuck out this week to me. The first was with a man Rafaelito and his wife, mercedita. We were talking about marriage, baptism, and the importance of them knowing if this really is Gods church. She said that she was not too sure, and she needed more time. We understood, and stressed that she read the Book of Mormon and come to church so that she can find out for herself if this was the correct path to follow. Then Rafaelito came out and gave a strong testimony about how this has really helped him. He talked about how much he wanted this for his family and for himself, and how he has seen his life improving from it. The spirit was spewing out of the room there was not enough space to hold all of it. I couldnt understand most of it but you could tell he really cares about flipping his life around. The second was with a couple, the man named Juan Diaz. Juan works at a tobacco factory (Villa Gonzalez provides the best tobacco in the country) and he said that he has to smoke to keep his job. The workers are the testers of the product. Elder Cannon explained to him that he can try and figure it out, and ask God for help. That didnt seem like enough for him, so I took out 1 Nephi 3:7 and told him, in my limited spanish, ´this is a promise contained in the Book of Mormon. If the Book of Mormon is true, then the LDS church is true. if this church is true, the word of wisdom, or the commandment prohibiting tobacco, is a true commandment of God. This is why you have to find out if this it true. Once you do, and you ask God for help, he will find the way. It is a promise. And I know that it is true. I am called as a missionary to help people recieve this Gospel. And I am so thankful for that´ and then he basically sat back and said that he needed to find out for himself. At that moment I thought to myself ´wow, this is real. I am legitimately a missionary´. It was a great experience. 

Alma 29:6 is such a great scripture. Why ask for more when we are called of God to preach his word? its the truth. All that we really need to do is be here and do our best. As long as we are keeping the rules, staying humble, and working our hardest, God will provide for the rest. God is so great, he is way too good to us. Christ is our savior and continually comes to us when we need him most, and all too often I do not notice it when he is helping. All I do is for them, or I am trying to make it that way.

I will send pictures next week, this week is a little weird but I have some good ones to send. 

That is awesome that the fam was able to go to Reno then to Dad´s old mission areas! I really want to do that when I get back home. Come back here, and hang out with the gang out here. They really are way too nice, just really drink too much. Even the drunk guys are nice, one came up to me the other night and was making friendly conversation in broken english. He was hilarious with a massive whiskey bottle in his hand, but its all good. I try not to judge. 

I heard that the USA declared war on Syria? a guy stopped us on the street to ask us about it and we had no idea. Way to go america, you guys care too much. Just live off your music and motorcycles and you´ll be set.

Well that is really all for today, its hot and sweaty but too great.

Oh yeah Camille, happy birthday! I love you because you write me every week and just love me way more than I deserve. You care a lot about others and truly try and be the best example. Keep working hard.

Sweaty and happy,

The better looking elder murphy

Finally here in the DR- August 29, 2013

Hello! I´m here! And it is way hotter than anyone could have described it. Well, it isn´t that hot, but the humidity is killer and I have a constant sweat going on. Not much happened in my last little while in the MTC. It was sad to say goodbye to all the friends I had made, but it had to be done unless they really wanted to go to the DR because I was no way going to spend more time there than I needed to.

It was awesome to be able to call from the airport on Monday and talk with the fam, it sounds like not much has changed. Alyse still LOVES to talk about Dane and Bethany really only can build her sentences around movie quotes. Just kidding, but it really was super awesome. The family I have is best, and I am also so happy that I finally have some pictures to show people what my family looks like. Being the best looking family out there, I feel that it is necessary to show off our looks.

So I arrived on Monday night and got off the plane to see 5 men in white shirts with black plaques waiting for us outside. It was President Douglas, and 4 office missionaries. President Douglas is awesome. I got to talk to him for a good while, and he really is great. He is a soft spoken man, but really is straight forward about things. I got to spend 2 nights there then we were all supposed to leave early wednesday morning for our respective areas. My trainer is Elder Cannon, a great missionary from Pleasant Grove, who has me as his last companion since after he trains me he will go home. But he had to help drive around on wednesday all the new missionaries so I stayed at the mission home and hung out until like 7 pm. It was nice to sit in AC for the majority of the day, but at the same time I wanted to leave.

We got to the house about 9pm, and since it is a brand new apartment, we had to build the apartment. Everything from the refridgerator to the beds were all still in boxes, and there was dust all over the floor. We cleaned and set stuff up until around 11:30 until we decided it was time to sleep and were in bed at 12. We were about to get in bed, I had just about set up my fan, when the power shut off. NOOOO it was so sad. I was so ready for a fan but then I just got in bed. At some point in the night I felt the fan come on and it felt SO GOOD. But I decided that this was going to be a fun 2 years with that electricity. And dad, I still wrote in my journal. and mom, thanks for the flashlight!

We cleaned some more this morning, ate, then now we are here. Our p-day is actually wednesdays, but we had no time for internet yesterday so the Assistants to the Presidents decided it would be ok to email today. Thank Goodness!

One cool thing was when I went out to place a Libro de Mormón on my 2nd day here with an Elder Florentino from La Vega (about 20 minutes from Santiago, he had some health problems so he stayed in his home mission). We began talking to a man on his patio about things, and I couldn´t understand most things he was saying since he talked SO FAST. I could tell, however, he wanted to Bible-bash. I knew it was important not to, so I did all I could to keep my cool. After a few minutes, I realized that I didnt even want to bash. At home, I often would, but here I didnt really want to and I knew that it was the Spirit working in me. I know that bashing gets no where and I really want to be able to keep my cool while i´m here because that is the way that people will be willing to talk if youre non-hostile.

More on Elder Cannon: He worked for 9 months in the office. We are in an area in which there were not elders here for a long time, so that means that there are no records for us to have. There have been sisters but we haven´t talked to them much. Hopefully there are some people that want to talk, but if not we´re just going to knock doors! YEAH!! or actually walk up and say ´buenos dias´because thats what people do here. He has 6 kids in his fam as well, with 3 boys and 3 girls. I´m really excited to work with him. He came out of high school and left in october of 2011.

I love you all, and I cannot wait to hear from you.

The mailing is a little bit whack. There are 2 different ways:

1. Send it to a private company in Miami. They will take longer, but are safer. For letters it is just like sending to someone in the states, but for packages it is pretty expensive but you can track them over the internet to make sure they werent lost. that address is:

8368 NW 66 Street

Miami, FL 33166

AREX00216

2. Sending it straight to the mission office. YOu can do Fedex, DHL, or USPS to send it. It is faster, but less reliable. and it is cheaper. I will pay for packages with my debit card, but it isnt too much. it is like 3 dollars for up to 10 pounds haha

Avenida Estrella Sadhala (number sign)10

2o piso Enfrente de Univ. UTESA

Santiago, Dominican Republic

51000

Pick your favorite one, but I want to hear from everyone! Love you all, keep reading your scriptures and working hard, the Lord blesses the humble and the focused.

Sincerely,

Dallin Murphy

P.s. I cant figure out how to send pictures yet

p.s.s. Way to beast it up in vball bethany!

Almost to the field!- August 23, 2013

Not much happened at all this week... I am loving it here but I am more stoked than one could imagine to get out of here and get into the DR. While it is always fun to be able to hang out with only missionaries for 6 straight weeks, but sometimes good things need to end. Actually, on Saturday, I started getting super super sick. My throat started hurting, and my head felt like it was going to explode. I have a big head, but I felt like it was 10 pounds heavier and I decided to go to the front desk. They sent me to urgent care, because the clinic here is only open Mon-Fri, and I spent a good 3 hours out of class. They did all these tests on me, then gave me 3 Ibuprofen! Then I started feeling a little bit better. That night I slept better than I ever have, but I still have felt a little bit under the weather over the whole week. But hey, I'm alive and I look good and that's all that matters! haha just kidding, but really I am fine. Thanks for checking up on me mom!

That was an awesome thing that Dad and his siblings did for Grandma and Grandpa Murphy, I can only imagine that beaming smile from Grandpa and Grandma when they saw them sitting there in Tucano's. Tucano's will always have a special place in my heart since it was the last dinner I had with G&G Murphy before I came out here. Good people, good food, GREAT jokes from Grandpa, what could get any better? Sounds like heaven on earth.

Today I got to go through the temple, and it was miraculous once again. I sat for a little while and read in the Bible, John 19 and then Isaiah 53. John 19 is about the events that occured after Christ is convicted by Pilate. It pains me time and time again reading about the scorn that Christ went through, physically and emotionally, by the people that lived in Jerusalem back then. I wish Pilate was more sympathetic and followed his heart instead of his fear, but I blame the Pharisees and Sadducees for his conviction. In Isaiah 53 it talks about how he is despised and rejected of men, then bears our sorrows, griefs and pains so that we are healed in his stripes. I mean really? Do the people who time and time again reject him and mock him deserve that? NO. But we have it to our disposal and we cannot take that for granted. It is an infinite atonement, and everyone can take part in it if we are prove ourselves through our faith, works, commitment, and desire. All four of those things are the same when you get down to it. 

I'm excited to share the gospel to the Dominicans down there in a couple of days. It will be hard, no doubt in my mind, but VALE LA PENA. (It will be worth it) that is my favorite phrase since It is always about Enduring to the End in life. Matthew 10:22. 2 Nephi 31:19-20. Ether 15:34. 

Hay muchas cosas que yo necesito aprender pero nunca he sido más animado para algo.

I dont think that was even a real sentence but I dig it.

Gracias por todos, vida es dificil pero vale la pena. 

Love you all, 

Dallin

Love at home- August 16, 2013

Today was my first time getting to go to the temple while I was at the MTC! It was really great. The most amazing thing is the fact that I was praying that I would be able to feel my family's and friends' presence and love for  me while I was in there. I was about to leave, and as I was sitting there I seriously never felt so at home being gone for so long. I have 10 days left here in the MTC and I have been gone for a month, but today I was able to see that I can feel your love when I really need to if I am at the temple. I have felt your love this whole time, don't get me wrong, but I really just needed a little bit of a pick me up. I thought of the rendition of "Love at Home" that Cole played at my farewell. I was a little homesick then I got over it and realized that I can see you guys soon enough. But I love it here. 

Guess who got to sit 5th row while one of the 12 apostles spoke in the first live broadcast to all the MTC's around the world! Your main missionary! I sat there and I saw the setup was a little bit different so I suspected something big. Sitting next to Elder Jones, we guessed who it could have been, and BAM Richard G. Scott walked in. You could feel his presence as he stepped onto the floor that BYU usually plays on for their home basketball games. He stood up with his 5'4" (or he looked that short) frame to speak to us and talked about how prayer is a golden opportunity and a sacred privilege we have to speak with the Almighty, Perfect Father of Heaven that we have. One thing that he said that I loved was that sometimes answers to prayer are left as "small messages along the way". I immediately thought of my time when deciding to go serve a mission and how I was looking for the answer to come all at once, but instead I received little nudges along the way as I looked for when to serve my 2 years as a missionary. Remember that conversation we had mom? I just had the feeling that all the things I had studied and seen were sending me in this direction. I cannot imagine doing it any other way, I am so happy this is the direction I went. He also said that maybe answers had already been given. I really liked that because all too often I looked for an answer to a question when I already know what I am supposed to do or what is right.

AUSTIN GOT TO MEET DANE?!?! NO FAIR! I want to see him now. Can you have a Statistics conference, Tommy, in the DR? On baseball statistics and stuff? I miss that little boy already. But Austin seems so happy and I am so glad he had the opportunity to meet him because Dane is the most perfect thing! Cafe Charlie seemed good too, that is perfect for our hometown boy headed for Lyon, France, Charlie Bollard!

Mom, I like your Book of Mormon goal! Do it until I get home! That is what I am doing every day, the MTC president says that we should spend 30 minutes AT LEAST in the Book of Mormon each day, but I am going to spend at least that and more in the Book of Mormon and New Testement especially. Jesus Christ never really stops teaching us, so I am really glad we have the scriptures to study daily. And once I finish, I just need to start over! My goal is to obtain the best of the Christlike Attributes. Faith, Hope, Charity, Love, Humility, Obedience, and Diligence. If I can refine myself with all that to the best of my ability, then I will be set. But that is a lofty goal that takes consistent focus that I am going to try and remind myself all the time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW MOM! I love you so much! I really can't describe how awesome you are as a mom. What I love about you is that you put in your whole life into making me the best disciple of Christ possible, then put some more into it too. On a scale of 1-10, you don't have a rating. You are the scale. Keep it up Madre! Te amo con todo mi corazón. 

Bethany, keep working hard in volleyball! Since you and Liam had a connection at the concert, I think that the distraction of being a superstar will be high. But just like with the tempations of the devil, you have got to focus on your true purpose. (I hope you know what zoolander quote I was about to put there). I miss those conversations too much, no one here is as funny as I am! just kidding, but really it is pretty sad to not have anyone that will know my batman quotes or zoolander quotes the way that you do.

Cole, keep it up. Write me! I think I'm supposed to write you... but you write me then I'll respond. 

Dad, thanks for the letters and I will respond asap!

It was a rather boring week, but I learned a lot and am excited to get out to the DR in 10 DAYS WOOOOOO!

Live Long and Prosper!

Elder Dallin Murphy

Email #3/104- August 9, 2013

I've endured eternity in 3 weeks.

HIYA! It was a really long week. I have to say, it has been pretty insane how slow the days go by. I teach a mock investigator in the morning and by dinner I feel like I taught them 3 days before. It is basically the same schedule daily and it is hard to recount what happens.

But last saturday was a pretty crazy day. We ended up going to play basketball for gym time, then I went to play volleyball, and when I came back, turns out that Elder Jones had reinjured his ankle. he already had 2 torn ligaments in his ankle but he was able to play and stuff, then he twisted it again and he couldn´t walk or anything. The next day was fast sunday, so as a zone we decided that it would be a good idea to fast for him. I fasted from 5:30 saturday night to 6 pm sunday for dinner. But by the end of sunday, he was walking around completely fine. It was a pretty incredible miracle. I'm not sure what would have happened in result of us not fasting, but we did and that is not what happened so we will never need to know. but he has to do physical therapy 3 times before he leaves so he gets to go out of the MTC boundaries to the hospital to do so. How fun!

It was great seeing Bekah that one day. I can't remember when it was but I know she came in the last week. I was just marking up my scriptures then it was so amazing to see a familiar face! She told me that you all were just waiting outside and it was weird to think that my mom and dad were a 30 second walk away. I feel like I haven't seen you all in forever! The cinammon bread (i cant spell but hey its whatever i'm a missionary) was amazing and so was the Caramel mashamellow on a stick. I havent eaten the other things yet because I got SO MUCH FOOD this last week. Well at least I got my package with LOTS of food from Alyse, then 2 things of food from the fam back home, and then a 10 pound package from in Cole's words, my "friend", with loads of good food. You can keep them coming if you want but I am pretty set as of right now.

I have been thinking a lot about Grace lately. And the relationship between the grace of God and the works we perform on earth. I found out, what I think, is a really cool analogy. I wrote this more in depth to Dad in a letter today, but Grace is a train, the final destination is Eternal Life and Exhaltation, while our works are the ticket on board. Works are basically Enduring to the end, the 5th component to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think it is Matthew 10:22 that says those who endure to the end shall have eternal life. It is pretty simple. Our works don't get us to eternal life, but that get us on the train that carries us there.

Our devotional on tuesday was by this Emeritus General Authority named Elder Jensen. It was all on how to study your scriptures more effectively. I don't remember much about it, but Mom asked about it so here you go. I just love the topic of scripture study because the scriptures are how I gained my testimony of the truthfullness of this Gospel. In reading the Book of Mormon, I have come closer to Jesus Christ than I thought I could. The Bible is just as incredible and I love it. I am marking up my scriputures like crazy, I will send a picture home of what they look like because it looks really cute. XD just kidding but I really have done a bunch.

Jacob may be my new favorite writer in the BoM. He is so straight forward and basically says that all the people at his time are more or less going to be thrust down into eternal despair if they don't pick it up.  I compare him to Jeffery R Holland of the Quorum of the 12, he just tells you how it is and how you can be better. My favorite scripture of his is Jacob 6:5, which states "I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repend, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you." CLEAVE MY FRIENDS! CLEAVE! I am pretty sure that it means something to the effect of hold on no matter what circumstances arrive. No matter what.

Alyse, I love the pictures on your blog, but can I at least get a few photo credits? I am pretty sure that the best pics on that blog were from ME!

Camille, hey! Keep working hard, I love the emails BUT USE DEAR ELDER WHILE I'M HERE! It is so fun reading all these things from people back home during the week.

Austin, you still havent responded to me once. But I hope all is well in good old canada.

Bethany, how was the HSM marathon with Kayla and Cole? I want to hear all about it. Good luck at the 1D concert, just remember who you are and just because you're the prettiest girl there and if Liam wants to jump off the stand and tell you to run away with him doesnt mean its ok. Ok? He may be a little bit good looking but he can wait for after your mission! WRITE ME. and get on varsity

Cole, you're a silly boy. but really sincere. Keep writing me, I love hearing from you. Keep reading and running, then you'll be the smartest and fastest kid in town!

I was in the bookstore the other day and I was prompted to buy an Iceland Shirt. Best investment I have ever made! I am wearing it right now and I wear it as proud as I could. People ask me if I am going there, but I have to tell the truth because I'm a missionary and stuff!

Well buenos suertes, me encantan sus cartas cada semana.

Peace!

Dallin